


Astra Inclinant, Sed Non Obligant. (The stars incline us; they do not bind us.)

by kamikorosu13



Series: Victorious [2]
Category: Bleach, Naruto
Genre: But none of the actual characters, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, This has elements of Bleach and One Punch Man, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:27:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27171050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kamikorosu13/pseuds/kamikorosu13
Summary: “Um, my name’s Katsumi and I have no idea where I am.”(Or, the AU in which Katsumi gets transported to the Naruto world and proceeds to fuck canon up in the best way possible. Madara should watch his back.)
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Victorious [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1983259
Comments: 7
Kudos: 32





	1. CANES VENATICI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own anything in this fic except for Katsumi
> 
> I’ve had a mental block in the original fanfic, so I decided to write this while my brain recharges. So, this takes place three days after the alien invasion in One Punch Man and during the Wave Mission Arc in Naruto. 
> 
> Also, I’m aging down some characters in Naruto so that Kakashi is only 22 instead of 26-27 to make the age gap a bit smaller. If you don’t like it, fight me. Don’t actually, because I would definitely lose.

“Regular talking.”

‘ _Regular thinking or quotes._ ’

“ **Visored talking.** ”

‘Katsumi mentally talking to Kana.’

‘ **Kana talking to Katsumi.** ’

* * *

Blue lightning crackled fiercely from Kakashi’s hand, the bright glow casting harsh shadows across his masked face as his mismatched eyes tunneled into the missing-nin standing before him, the three black tomoes of Obito’s sharingan surrounding a pinpricked pupil. “I’ll ask once more,” he threatened lowly, the concentrated lightning chakra of his Raikiri lashing out in furious azure sparks. “Surrender…your future is death.”

Tensing his muscles as he prepared to summon his pack to pin down Zabuza, the jōnin suddenly froze as a crack appeared in the air directly between him and his enemy, the black line stretching until it was as wide as he was tall, hanging forebodingly in the dense mist that was only just starting to clear up. Kakashi eyed it with great suspicion, rapidly flickering his gaze between the horizontal line and the missing-nin, who looked just as confused as he did.

“This jutsu…are you doing this?” he asked Zabuza even though the other man had made no visible hand seals, since it could be a trap. He didn’t bother to disperse his Raikiri despite the lull in battle, because even if it was a waste of chakra, it was better to be safe than sorry when confronted with unknown elements. “If you aren’t, we may have some interference. Just surrender now, Zabuza!”

“Go fuck yourself, Kakashi—”

The Kiri missing-nin was cut off by spiderweb cracks spreading from the black line with a sound not unlike glass fracturing. From all points of view, the fissure appeared as though it was facing them and small patches of pitch-black void could be seen in the gaps, sending shivers down everyone’s spine. Something from the other side smashed through the opening with such force that it dispersed all the mist, sending glass-like shards scattering in the air. The fragments immediately dispersed and reformed the tear in reality, leaving no indication of the break.

The blur careened straight towards the dumbfounded Zabuza, causing Haku to rapidly disengage from his battle with Naruto and jump into one of his Makyō Hyōshō (Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals) before tackling it out of the way with a cry of, “Zabuza-sama!” He skidded across the bridge, crashing into the wooden railing with a muffled groan, coughing from the harsh impact. “Z-Zabuza…sama…are you injured _…?_ ” Haku asked weakly, struggling back on his feet and wrapping an arm around his bruised ribs.

“No, I’m fine…good job, Haku.”

“Urgh…” groaned the bundle on the floor, a slightly tanned hand appearing from under the black cloak and bracing on the floor as the female - judging from the sound of her voice - wobbled unsteadily to her feet. “Shit, where’d that teleporting fucker go? Dropping buildings on people is just _rude—_ ”

“Who the hell are you?” demanded Zabuza as he reached a hand over his shoulder to place it on the Kubikiribōchō, appearing unnerved at the strange presence of the cloaked figure.

Even Kakashi readied himself to fight the new arrival, though only because of her ( _it’s??_ ) lack of discernible chakra. He could still feel a strange kind of energy emitting from her figure; a dense kind of pressure that felt like a weight pressing down on his shoulders. _’Dangerous…but they don’t seem aggressive towards us. Maybe I can suggest an alliance to take down Zabuza if I offer to give up his bounty…’_

And then the figure pushed off their hood, ruby hair spilling in long streams down her shoulders and to her hips, framing an attractive face.

Kakashi’s Raikiri fizzled out due to his lack of concentration. “Wow…”

* * *

Katsumi furrowed her eyebrows as she took in her surroundings, trailing her eyes over the large wooden bridge and fading mist, the old man standing next to a little girl with pink hair much lighter than her own and green eyes, the two adult males - were they _ninja_? - facing her with wide eyes. The silver-haired one was pretty attractive, even with half of his face covered by a navy mask. His left eye had a blood-red iris with three comma-like markings surrounding the pupil. _That_ was something she definitely hadn’t seen before.

‘ **Looks weird.** ’

‘Like you have room to talk, with those eyes of yours.’

The feminine-looking boy that had tackled her into the railing was looking pretty beat up as well - did she land in the middle of a battle? - and so did the blond kid with zero fashion-sense and three whisker-like markings on each cheek. Were they scars or estigma*? Katsumi could feel weird reiatsu radiating from everyone on the bridge in different levels, but the whiskered kid was emitting so much that she was surprised it wasn’t visible. There were two reiatsu frequencies coming from him, one of which was so malevolent that she almost thought he had an inner hollow as well.

(*AN: In Bleach, they refer to the colored markings on an arrancar’s face as ‘estigma,’ meaning ‘facial markings.’ Also, I forgot the mention that Kana has the same estigma as Grimmjow, but the same color as her hair and eyes instead of blue. Back to the story~)

This place was very interesting, but it still didn’t change the fact that—

“Um, my name’s Katsumi and I have no idea where I am are who you guys are,” she confessed sheepishly, brushing some hair out of her face as she turned to the boy next to her, who was still clutching at his ribs. “Sorry about that, by the way. Do you need any help getting to a hospital? I didn’t hear any cracks, so the most you should have is some bruising, but I’ll pay for your fee since I was reason you were injured. What about you, Whiskers, do you need first-aid or something?” she asked the blond kid who looked starstruck at her concern.

“I’m fine, Nee-chan!”

She smiled at him and turned to pat the boy next to her on the head. “What’s your name, kid? Also, have you seen this creepy-looking asshole with a big machine on his arm and a dumb haircut?”

“You’re the only person that appeared here,” informed the guy with the large sword on his back. “What kind of messed-up jutsu was that?”

“Jutsu?” she questioned, scanning her gaze over the bridge and raising her eyebrows at the dark-haired boy that was unconscious on the ground and riddled with so much senbon that he looked like a porcupine, but _way_ less cute. “What are you talking about? Also, are you idiots seriously leaving that kid on the ground? Call an ambulance or something, jeez.”

The pink-haired girl cut her eyes towards the boy on the ground and screamed, “Sasuke-kun!” running over to him while dragging the old man over, kneeling down by his side and crying, her tears dripping onto his face. Whisker-boy and the silver-haired guy looked pained, but everyone remained in the tense stand-off, none of them making a move as they eyed each other warily.

“Nee-chan,” warbled out the blond kid, face scrunching as he tried to hold his tears in, “S-Sasuke…he’s already d-dead.”

“What the hell are you talking about, Whiskers? Your reiatsu sensing is even worse than mine, which is pretty sad, f you ask me. He’s just unconscious, but all those senbon probably hurt, y’know.”

“Really, Nee-chan?!” Naruto shouted happily, eyes tearing up in relief. “I dunno what this reiatsu thingy is, but it sounds great!”

“How did you know he’s still alive?!” asked the boy next to her, a panicked expression on his features as he shot a glance at the ninja with the huge sword. “I’m sorry, Zabuza-sama! I just couldn’t do it!”

“You’re still as soft as ever, Haku,” he sighed, grasping the sword and leveling it in the silver-haired ninja’s direction. “Guess that means more work for me. Stay out of this, woman. This fight is between Kakashi and me.”

“Bring it on, Zabuza,” goaded the newly-identified Kakashi as he palmed a kunai, the tension in his shoulders releasing at the confirmation of Sasuke’s survival. “Your luck won’t hold out for a third time!”

“Hold on,” Katsumi interrupted as she gazed coldly at the two ninjas, her ruby eyes sharpening and cutting into Zabuza like a knife. “First of all, I already told you my name! Use it! Secondly, did you just imply that you were gonna kill those kids, asshole? What the hell is your problem?!”

“You still haven’t taken care of the bridge builder,“ cut in an oily voice from further along the bridge. “You disappoint me, Zabuza.”

Katsumi looked over at the short man with round sunglasses and a cane, sweatdropping at the large amount of armed people behind him. “I was so distracted that I forgot to sense for weaklings,” she murmured, amused at how low their (weird) reiatsu was.

‘ **Ugh, herbivores crowding together to kill a weakened predator disgusts me,** ’ complained Kana. ‘ **Just kill them all now.** ’

“Gatou. Why are you here?” interrogated Zabuza. “And what’s with all these men?!”

“Hehehe the plan has changed…well actually, I planned to do this from the beginning. Zabuza, I’m going to have you killed here,” chortled Gatou, a smug grin on his face as he took off his sunglasses and hooked them in the collar of his shirt, exposing beady eyes.

“What?”

“I never planned on paying you any money. Hiring a normal ninja from the village is expensive and they may betray me, so I get you missing-nin who are easy to take care of afterwards. I have the ninjas battle each other and once they’re weakened I just kill them off with with numbers,” gloated the despicable man. “It doesn’t cost me anything. Good plan, don’t you think? The only problem in the plan was you…Zabuza, Kirigakure no Kijin (Demon of the Hidden Mist). What a joke, if you ask me…you’re just a cute little baby devil.”

“We can easily kill you now!” shouted someone from the small army, bursts of cheer echoing into the air as they celebrated prematurely.

“Oh yeah, that pretty-boy squeezed my arm until it broke…you guys mess him up until he wishes he were dead,” said Gatou, addressing his troops. “Just kill everyone here and you can have your way with the females as well.”

“The hell did you say about Nee-chan and Sakura-chan?! You bastard!!!” The blond charged furiously over to the bandits but Kakashi grabbed the collar of his orange jumpsuit and yanked him backwards, keeping a firm grip on the struggling boy.

“Hey! Look at their numbers, don’t just jump in!” he admonished, shaking his student lightly. “You’re too reckless, Naruto!”

“Wait, so this creep is really rich?” asked Katsumi, pointing at Gatou. “Why don’t you just kill him and take his money for yourself, Zabuza?”

“Ugh, they have too many hired goons and I’m wiped out from my fight with Kakashi,” he admitted. “Plus, I thought he was gonna pay me, but it looks like we’ll have to fight our way out. Haku, get ready.”

“Yes, Zabuza-sama!”

“Kakashi, this fight is over. Now that I have no reason to go after Tazuna, I have no reason to fight you.”

“Ah…you’re right,” said Kakashi even as he re-gripped his kunai. “But if we let these bandits go, they’ll probably raid Nami no Kuni (Land of Waves), which is bad for business. So I guess I can lend you guys a hand.”

“Me too!” yelled Naruto, a fire burning in his eyes as he pulled out some shuriken from a pouch. “I won’t forgive anyone who insults my friends!”

“Hah~ how tacky. It’s just your style, Gatou,” Katsumi sighed, flipping something into the air that glinted dully, drawing everyone’s attention to the pair of sunglasses in her hand.

“Huh?” Patting his shirt where his glasses used to be, Gatou stumbled back in shock, terrified that he didn’t even notice the female moving. “How did you—?!”

“Awesome, Nee-chan! You’re such a cool shinobi!”

“Hey, Zabuza. If I get rid of the trash, then can we split this guy’s funds fifty-fifty?” she asked, smirking at the sword-wielding shinobi. “A little extra cash is never a bad thing, am I right?”

“Heh, I like your attitude, Katsumi! It’s a deal!” agreed Zabuza, a malicious grin on his covered face. “Just leave Gatou to me. I’m not gonna forget his betrayal anytime soon!”

“Alright!” Crushing the sunglasses in her hand before tossing them away, Katsumi rolled her shoulders and cracked her knuckles. “Let me handle this, everyone. I’m still pissed off about having a building dropped on my head, so I’ll just take it out on these fuckers. Kiddos, I’d tell you to look away…but you probably won’t see anything, so I guess it’s fine!”

_“Don’t get all smug, bitch!”_

_“We’ll put you in your place!”_

_“Yeah, let’s teach her a lesson!”_

“Come on, do your best to take me out! Don’t make this boring for me!” she taunted, spreading her arms wide, a mocking sneer plastered on her face. “I’ll even give you the first hit!”

“Don’t look down on us, you bitch! Die!” yelled a bandit, charging ahead from the group and swinging his sword overhead before bringing it down on the unmoving female with all his force.

“Nee-chan!”

All eyes widened at the scene before them and the cocky bandit’s pupils contracted in undiluted terror, his sword falling from nerveless fingers and landing on the bridge with a loud _clang._ “N-No w-way…what kind of m-monster are you?!”

The sword that had been swung down in an attempt to slice her arm off had been halted in its path by Katsumi’s shoulder, not even managing to break through the reiatsu-infused fabric of her cloak. The ruby-haired teen scoffed in derision and casually backhanded the bandit, exploding his entire head from the sheer force of the strike, splattering hot blood across the side of her face. The _thump_ caused by the remains of his body hitting the ground made Gatou and his men take a collective step away from the terrifying female.

“Aww, don’t you guys wanna play anymore~?” she teased, her ruby eyes glinting eerily as she grinned, exposing unnervingly sharp canines. “Guess I’ll have to come to you!”

Using a Flash Step to appear behind the large group of bandits, she tore through every single bandit like wet tissue paper, rapidly making her way towards the front and smacking Gatou between his shoulder blades, sending him flying face-first into the ground in front of Zabuza, which broke his nose with a wet _crack_. All in all, the exchange didn’t even take one second. “They were so slow,” she sighed in annoyance, trying to wipe her bloody arm off on her cloak, but only managing to smear the crimson liquid everywhere she touched. “Boring~”

‘ **Pathetic!** ’ yelled Kana. ‘ **Fight that Zabuza guy! He may be able to cut us a little!** ’

‘No way!’ Katsumi shouted back mentally. ‘I’m not going to picking fights just to satisfy your masochistic tendencies! Go sleep or something! I’ll wake you up if there’s a strong enemy, okay?!’

‘ **Tch, fine.** ’

“Katsumi-san,” called out Sakura, a faint tremor in her voice as she addressed the other girl from her place beside Sasuke. “Where did all that blood come from? Those bandits are still standing…are you going to let them go?” 

“Sakura…those guys are already dead…” trailed off Kakashi, watching as blood sprayed from the bandits and they all burst into gory chunks of flesh and organs, marveling at Katsumi’s speed and strength, only managing to capture her initial movement because of Obito’s sharingan. _‘Such speed…amazing! I guess I have to increase my training if I want to keep up,’_ he mused inwardly, even as he pulled his hitai-ate back over his left eye to stop the intensive chakra drain of the sharingan. ‘ _Ugh, I’m gonna be feeling that in the morning…_ ’

“Nee-chan, you’re so cool!“ Naruto shouted, barreling into her side and gazing at her with awestruck eyes as Sakura gagged in the background. “Teach me how to do that jutsu too,” he begged, tugging on a sleeve.

“Naruto, you already have a teacher,” complained Kakashi, pouting beneath his mask. “Don’t you appreciate all the effort I spend teaching you guys new things?”

“Hmph, turn up on time for once, Kakashi-sensei!” he scoffed, crossing his arms and facing away, fixing his bright blue eyes on a rousing Sasuke. “Hey, Sasuke-teme’s awake!”

“Sakura…you’re heavy…” he groaned weakly, turning his head to look at his worried teammate, who burst out in relieved tears and hugged him desperately. “Sakura…that hurts…”

“Oh! S-Sorry!”

Katsumi ruffled Naruto’s spiky hair with her unbloodied hand and gently pushed him towards the kids huddled on the floor. “Go to your friends,” she encouraged, looking at him with such a fond smile that it made him flush in embarrassment and hurry over to where Sakura and Sasuke were. “Where do you think you’re going?” questioned Katsumi as she stomped on Gatou’s hand and broke it, pinning it beneath her platform boots, her cold ruby eyes fixing on the sniveling man. “I fucking hate backstabbing trash like you.”

“P-Please don’t kill m-me,” he pleaded, sweating at her bone-chilling gaze, too scared to even wipe the blood trickling down from his broken nose. “I’ll give you all the money you want! You’ll be richer than your wildest dreams!”

“Whoa, shit. Is this guy really that loaded?” Katsumi asked Kakashi and Zabuza as they came to stand beside her, nudging the crying man in the side.

“Unfortunately, yes,” sighed Kakashi, running a gloved hand through his spiky mop of hair. “He runs a large shipping company and trades on the black market, using Nami no Kuni’s shipping industry as a stepping stone to expand his wealth, which has caused poverty since it was this country’s main source of income.”

“So his money is completely spread out in different sources…Zabuza, you’re a skilled ninja, yeah? How skilled are you in interrogation?” she inquired, a hungry grin spreading across her attractive features.

“Oh, I see where you’re going with this,” darkly chuckled the missing-nin, grabbing the horrified man and hoisting him over his shoulder. “I won’t forget our deal, so hang around for a while, Katsumi! Haku, come!”

“Yes, Zabuza-sama!”

As the two shinobi vanished in a burst of speed, Katsumi glanced over at the mass of civilian-level reiatsu approaching the bridge, prompting Kakashi to look that way as well.

“If you come any furth—eh?!” yelled a young boy with a weird helmet and a crossbow as he looked at the blood-splattered bridge, torn off limbs and entrails littering the large expanse where Gatou’s army of thugs used to be. “W-What happened?! The hero is supposed to show up at the last second!”

“Inari! Nee-chan came and kicked their butts!” yelled Naruto, pointing at Katsumi in excitement, only for Sakura to smack his hand down and yell at him for being loud. “S-Sorry, Sakura-chan…”

“Who is that?” asked Sasuke in confusion, only noticing the cloaked female when Naruto pointed her out.

“We don’t know either, Sasuke-kun. She appeared in the middle of the battle and slaughtered all the bandits in less than a second,” Sakura explained hurriedly, not noticing Sasuke’s eyes fixing themselves on the ruby-haired teen, curiosity sparking at the supposedly-powerful individual. “I didn’t even see her move, but they were all ripped into pieces! ”

“So she's strong? How interesting…”

“Now that things have cooled down, which Hidden Village do you come from, Katsumi?” asked Kakashi, whipping out a small orange book from a pocket and peering at her over the open pages. “I haven’t heard of anyone like you in the Bingo Books, so I’m assuming you’re ANBU, but I don’t see your hitai-ate anywhere.”

“…ANBU? Hitai-ate? Kakashi, you lost me at ‘Hidden Village’,” she confessed, rubbing her temple in frustration. “You guys all behave weird, plus all of your reiatsu feels super…light? I’m not exactly sure, but it’s creeping me out.”

“Reiatsu? Do mean chakra? If you don’t come from a Hidden Village, how about you head back to Konoha with us when Zabuza gets back?” Kakashi offered, brows furrowing as he tried to puzzle out her strange existence in his head. _‘She talked about feeling ‘reiatsu’ again - does that mean she’s a sensor type?’_

“Konoha…” she said, tasting the unfamiliar word on her tongue before nodding resolutely. “Sure, which city is it in? I’ve never heard of it before.”

Everyone fell over in shock - besides Sasuke and Sakura, who were still on the ground - and looked at the female in astonishment. “What rock have you been living under?!”

(Somewhere in Amegakure, a masked shinobi sneezed violently, lifting up the bottom of his orange spiral mask to wipe his nose. “Ugh, is someone talking shit about me?!”)

“Konohagakure no Sato (Village Hidden in the Leaves) is one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries! It’s impossible for you to have never heard of it before!” exclaimed Kakashi as he clambered back to his feet. “Now that I think about it, that strange rift from before…don’t tell me—”

“Yeah, that matches up with what I’ve been thinking as well. I don’t suppose you’ve heard of the Association before?” Katsumi sighed when he shook his head in denial, fishing out her phone from one of the numerous pockets in her cloak and grimacing at the ‘no signal’ notification. “Well then…take me to your leader, please. I have a feeling that we have a _lot_ to discuss.”

* * *

**[APPROXIMATELY TWO WEEKS LATER]**

“—and so we headed back after the bridge was completed,” finished off Kakashi with a barely hidden grin as he concluded his mission report, snapping his Icha-Icha closed neatly and placing it back in his vest pocket.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, sighed in resignation and pinched the space between his eyebrows, glaring at Kakashi as the masked shinobi gave a peace-sign and curved his visible eye into a cheery crescent, looking completely unrepentant at the extra paperwork he had just foisted onto the overworked Kage. “So you’re telling me that your C-rank mission turned into an A-rank, but you didn’t call for backup? _And_ you let an A-ranked missing-nin and his protégé wander off with half of Gatou’s money and resources? Did you at least find out what they’re going to do with it?”

“Ah, they’re gonna use it to fund the rebuilding of Kirigakure, since a large portion of their village was destroyed when the new Godaime Mizukage and the rest of the freedom fighters retook Kiri in their civil war,” explained the silver-haired jōnin. “They probably won’t be joining us for the upcoming Chūnin Exams, because their forces are dangerously low at the moment and letting their Kage leave the village in such a vulnerable time would leave it open to attack.”

“I’ll send an invite anyway,” he muttered, folding his hands together and placing them on the wooden desk before looking at the ruby-haired female standing leisurely next to Kakashi. From first appearances, she was just an exotic-looking teenager - probably traveling from the way she gazed at her surroundings curiously and with undisguised awe - when in reality, she was cataloguing her surroundings and keeping an eye out for possible threats, hiding controlled, fluid motions beneath her bulky cloak. She was obviously well trained, and the report Kakashi had slipped him yesterday was accurate, she was an exceedingly fast and strong fighter as well.

“And you are the young lady who helped out in the fight?” he asked her, dipping his head lightly in thanks. “My name is Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage. On behalf of Konoha, I would like to thank you for your assistance. Kakashi has said that over the last two weeks you’ve both compared notes and realized that you come from a completely separate dimension to this one. If you wouldn’t mind, please tell me how that happened.”

“No problem, Hokage-sama! And no thanks is needed, really. I would’ve helped out regardless. My name is Katsumi, and it’s nice to meet you,” she greeted happily, taking a slight bow. “Just to let you know, I left most of the money Zabuza gave me with that Tazuna guy in Nami no Kuni, so you should expect some trade offers soon.” She took a deep breath to collect herself, exhaling lightly before she started. “Okay, so I was on a patrol in City Q, since the Association called me in to check out some disturbances in that area,” she explained, tapping her fingers on her thigh.

“There was this guy robbing a bank and he had this machine on his arm that could open spatial distortions wherever he pointed, which made him very hard to get rid of without collateral damage. I was almost about to kill him, but then he tried dropping the whole bank onto a school in order to run away, so I had to catch it. When I threw it back at him, he opened a rift to swallow the building before it could squash him.”

Her eyebrow twitched in irritation as she appeared to think about the next part of her story, not noticing the two shinobi exchange a discrete glance at the casual mention of her inhuman strength. “I got sloppy and ended up in the range of his attack, which sucked me into this huge void. Then I tumbled around in a bunch of nothingness for awhile, up until it spat me out in the middle of Kakashi’s fight. You already know the rest. So…what are you going to do with me?”

“‘Do with you’?” he asked, amused at her bluntness and how quickly she had caught onto the situation at hand. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t fuck with me, old man,” snorted the teenager as she crossed her arms, throwing her diplomatic manners straight out of the proverbial window as she met his heavy gaze dead-on. “Kakashi and his mess of a team gave me a crash-course on your world when we were trying to figure out my situation, so don’t think you can fool me with your kind facade. They might praise you as a kind leader, but someone doesn’t become the ruler of a military dictatorship without cutting off more than a couple of heads and burning out dissenters. To you, I am a potential asset to your village, as well as a security threat. From what I’ve observed, you already know that I’m stronger than most of your troops, so you can’t risk me going to join another Hidden Village, just in case war breaks out and I’m used as a weapon.

“You also can’t risk trying to assassinate me, because Kakashi has undoubtedly told you that I can sense people within a certain range. Just as a heads up, I’m also heavily resistant to poisons, so don’t even bother wasting your time. Alternatively, if you fight me personally, you’d be at a disadvantage, because while you don’t have a solid grasp on my abilities, _yours_ are conveniently displayed in every single Bingo Book in the Elemental Nations,“ she smirked, pulling out a black book from somewhere in her long sleeves, tossing it onto a stack of paperwork, where it balanced precariously on the edge of the pile. “Of course, I’m not stupid enough to believe that it covers even a fraction of what you can do, _God of Shinobi,_ but you also have to take collateral damage into account, as well as potential hostages. So cut the bullshit. I’ll ask you again: what are you going to do with me?”

Hiruzen stared at the teenager incredulously, well aware of the silver-haired jōnin choking in shock in his peripherals, a bit surprised at just how well she had broken down the situation. He chuckled, placing his pipe in his mouth and taking a draw. “Impressive. With physical and intelligence skills like that, you’d become a jōnin easily. So let’s make this simple, if I assign you as a co-leader to Kakashi’s Team 7, will you become a loyal jōnin of Konoha?”

“Hokage-sama!” protested Kakashi, straightening up and shooting him a nervous glance. “I doubt any of the other jōnin will mind, but the Council won’t let Katsumi jump straight to jōnin without holding a vote and demanding testing.”

“Bah,” dismissed the Hiruzen, waving his hand to assuage the masked shinobi’s worries. “They may call it the Konoha Council, but as Katsumi kindly reminded me, this is a dictatorship not a democracy, and as the Hokage, I have the final say in all matters.” He looked at the ruby-eyed female, smiling in spite of her stony expression. “From what Kakashi says, you’re fond of his genin, so if I asked you to stay and protect the future generations of Konoha, I get the feeling that you won’t refuse. So, will you accept my offer?”

“Tch, what a manipulative old bastard,” scoffed the female, grinning excitedly despite her less-than complementary words, reaching across the table to shake his hand firmly and accepting the hitai-ate he handed her without hesitation. “I would be proud to be a jōnin of Konoha.”

“Fantastic! Do you want a jōnin vest as well?”

“Hah, no way. One of my techniques, Shunkō, destroys the back of my shirts, so I’d really rather not waste clothing.”

“No, no, that’s fine. But concerning your sensory abilities; how well developed are they?” he asked. “What exactly can you sense with them?”

“If you’re talking about Naruto and that other reiatsu he carries, you really don’t have to worry,” scoffed Katsumi. “I don’t discriminate against monsters - we all deserve our place in the world.” She flared her bloodthirsty hollow reiatsu as little as she could, letting black flames creep across an eye and turn white to black, ruby to gold, before clamping down on her reiatsu and feeling her eye revert to normal.

“…I see.”

“Yeah. Anyways, I don’t mind with helping Kakashi train those brats and whip them into proper shape, as long as I get to train them in my own way. For supposedly-trained killers, they are lacking in a lot of things. Were they given basic training at all?”

“The Academy was compromised, so the curriculum is being completely restructured,” admitted the Hokage, a faint bitter note in his voice before he concealed it by asking a question. “Do you have any kind of weapons training?

“Ah, my sensei called me a weapons genius, but I find those kinds of titles completely overrated useless. After all, practice makes perfect! But~, using any kind of blade just ends fights so quickly and makes it so _boring_ , so I’m primarily a hand-to-hand combatant. I still train regularly with everything I can get my hands on though. But my sensei was the Commander-in-Chief in the Onmitsukidō (Covert Operations), so I have plenty of stealth training as well.” Her ruby eyes glinted as she put forward a proposal. “How about a bet? If Kakashi and I can make all of Team 7 pass into the final round of the upcoming Chūnin Exams, you’ll owe us a favor each. If not, we’ll do three A-rank missions without pay.”

“Hey, don’t I get a say in this?!”

“Hmm, all of them have to display enough skills to earn a promotion,” countered Hiruzen, steamrolling over Kakashi’s protests, a sly grin on his face. “Since the first round starts in one month, I’d say that’s plenty of time…unless you’re not confident in your teaching skills?” he goaded, watching as her eye twitched irritably.

“Wait, Hokage-sama,” protested Kakashi. “I haven’t agree—”

“You’re on, old man! We’ll make you eat your damn words!” the female yelled, stomping towards the exit and slamming the door open loudly, waiting for Kakashi to catch up to her.

“…nevermind.”

As the masked shinobi slumped defeatedly past the fuming teenager in the doorway, Hiruzen grabbed the black book from the pile of paperwork and brushed his fingers lightly over the cover. “Where did you even find one of these so quickly?” he called out to the ruby-haired female, making her pause mid-step, her fingers clenching briefly on the doorframe. “This is a Konoha-issue Bingo Book and you’ve only been here for two nights.”

She tilted her head to him slightly, a vaguely apologetic expression on her face before she turned back around. “Sorry about that, but I did mention hostages, right? Ah, that Asuma sure is a lightweight~”

His Killing Intent flared briefly but intensely, but the teenager didn’t react other rather rolling her shoulders languidly and clicking her tongue, muttering to herself. “So that’s what Killing Intent feels like…I can still move.” She made a derisive noise and fixed Hiruzen with a ruby-eyed glare. “I may be a bitch, but I’m not such a terrible person. Go nag your son and tell him not to let his guard down around pretty strangers. I’m sure he and his hangover would _love_ that.”

The teenager stalked out and slammed the heavy door shut behind her, the wall trembling slightly from the impact. From behind his desk, Hiruzen exhaled a ring of smoke, releasing a relieved sigh at the same time. “Well played, Katsumi. Hmm, what’s this?” he asked, picking up a slip of paper that had fallen onto his table from where it had been wedged in-between the pages of his son’s Bingo Book. Placing it on the table, he read over the neat but unfamiliar words, sighing in resignation at the message it conveyed.

_Take heed of the corrupted roots that spread beneath the Great Tree. Their shadows can reach the grassy plains where the snakes slither, and their eyes can steal anything that roams under the dominion of Heaven*._

(*AN: For those of you who don't know the sharingan is also referred to as Heaven's eye, which Katsumi found out by snooping around.)

“Danzō, my old friend. Just how far have you fallen?” Using a small Katon jutsu, he sent the piece of paper up in flames, letting the wind carry the ashes out of the open window. “That girl - managing to uncover all that in a single day….the future generations of the village are in good hands.”

Dragging a piece of paperwork off the large stack, he chuckled lightly. “I would’ve never expected such a direct person to be able to write cryptic messages, though.”

* * *

**[OUTSIDE HOKAGE TOWER]**

Katsumi sneezed suddenly, accidentally managing to knock the orange book out of Kakashi’s hands when she bumped against him, quickly snagging it before it hit the ground. “Ugh, I think someone was talking about me,” she complained as she passed the book back to the grateful man.

‘ **Hopefully it’s not that creepy fucker we bumped into yesterday,** ’ said Kana. ‘ **That arm was the most disgusting thing I’ve felt in my life!** ’

‘Don’t talk about it!’ thought Katsumi, shuddering heavily as she remembered the feeling of around a dozen reiatsu signatures hidden underneath unassuming bandages, similar to the feel of Kakashi’s sharingan eye, but a thousand times more creepy. ‘It was a good thing we stalked him to one of his bases - who would’ve know that this nice-looking village was so damn corrupted? I also want to meet this Orochimaru guy that was mentioned in some of the reports and beat some sense into the fool. Immortality is for delusional idiots.’

‘ **Or children.** ’

‘Same difference!’

“Are you cold?”

“Huh?” Katsumi looked at her companion’s slate gray eye in confusion, neatly dodging around a falling flowerpot as they walked along the street. “Who’s cold? I was talking to myself, sorry.”

“Ah, you were shivering just now. So, that thing you did in Hokage-sama’s office when your eye changed color—” The masked shinobi cut himself off as sparkles appeared in the female’s ruby eyes and she grabbed one of his arms in a tight hold, pressing it firmly between her breasts as she hugged it, causing a light red tint to appear on his visible cheekbone.

“You’re one smooth guy, Kakashi~,” she purred, snuggling closer and peering up at him. “I could be persuaded to _warm_ up with you, if you get my meaning, that is~”

“N-No, that’s really not what I meant,” he denied in a calm voice, resolutely turning his face away from hers, as though it would stop her from seeing his blush. Regardless, she could still hear his heart rate picking up, so he wasn’t fooling anyone. “Are you hungry? Let’s go eat,” he decided, completely changing the topic and dragging her over to a food stall.

Well, she successfully avoided talking about her inner hollow. For now, anyway. But still, the thought of food was just making her depressed. She wanted to compete in the udon competition against Genos and Saitama again, wanted to talk to her friends about anything and everything, wanted go out to that dinner with Bad. She never did remember to tell Z about completely demolishing the House of Evolution’s base, did she? And Katsumi couldn’t believe that she was even thinking this, but she even missed arguing with that annoying green midget, Tatsumaki. And Garou…she just wanted to see his smile again.

She sighed heavily, accepting the meat skewer Kakashi passed to her with a little nod of thanks, munching morosely on the cubes of chicken and not even smiling at the amazing flavors that burst to life on her tongue.

“Hey, don’t worry, Katsumi. I’m sure you’ll manage to find a way home eventually,” Kakashi reassured, placing a gloved hand on her cloaked shoulder. “I mean, if two geniuses like us put our heads together, figuring out a little cross-dimensional travel is hardly a problem, am I right?”

The ruby-eyed female looked at his masked face for a few seconds before smirking and taking another bite from the meat skewer, but with much more enthusiasm. “Yeah, I’m sure we’ll get it soon. Heh, you really are a smooth-talker, aren’t you?” Katsumi asked rhetorically as she gazed at the Hokage mountain in the distance. “So…I may have snooped around Konoha a little bit yesterday, but tell me more stuff about your world. I’m sure it’ll be interesting.”

“Hai, hai. I don’t know if you know this already, but the first Hidden Village was created when a great man by the name of Senju Hashirama and his best friend at time time, Uchiha Madara…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you guys like it? Please leave a kudos and a comment! Also stay tuned for more updates, because I don’t know which fanfic I’m going to update next. Probably this one, since I still have no idea where I’m going in season 2 of One Punch Man. 
> 
> Also, is anyone else pissed off at how long it’s taking for the new issue of the manga to come out? I feel like I’m literally dying!


	2. VULPECULA

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ‘Something or someone is using their own power to trap us here.’
> 
> “So our arrival here isn’t just a coincidence then,” sighed the masked teen, dismissing the Garganta and flopping sadly onto the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own anything in this fic except for Katsumi
> 
> Read and enjoy!

“Regular talking.”

‘ _Regular thinking or quotes._ ’

“ **Visored talking.** ”

‘Katsumi mentally talking to Kana.’

‘ **Kana talking to Katsumi.** ’

* * *

Katsumi breathed in and out as evenly as possible with her eyes shut, sitting with her legs crossed in a meditative pose on the wooden floor of her newly-acquired apartment. Bringing a hand up to her face, she brought her hollow mask out and felt the hard bone press against her lower face as it formed, glad that she had remembered to put up some reiatsu-dampening Kidō on the walls of her apartment.

 _‘Kakashi mentioned that I appeared from a pitch-black void when I first appeared. Even though the opening was unstable, what he described was undoubtedly the Garganta. Therefore, in order to get home, all I need to do…’_ she reasoned internally, _‘…is to open a pathway to the void between worlds.’_

‘ **Don’t just open a random pathway like an idiot, use** **Descorrer to open the Garganta, or else you’ll get lost inside** ,’ snapped Kana, tapping her foot irritably on the grass of their inner world. ‘ **Especially considering since this is the first time you’re using it _and_ that we’re in a different dimension. I already said that I could do it in a heartbeat if you just let me take over for a bit.**’

‘And I already said no!’ Katsumi sniped back mentally. ‘Your reiatsu control is so shitty that you’d kill everyone in this damn building, which is unacceptable! And doing this in a public training ground would be the height of stupidity, but we can’t even leave Konoha or those ANBU guards outside would report it to Sarutobi, which is a headache I don’t want or need, especially since I haven’t slept ever since we stepped foot in Konoha.’

The inner hollow scoffed and fell back onto the grass, narrowing her eyes at the overcast sky of their world. She hadn’t felt the sun on her face ever since Katsumi had realized they weren’t just in some feudal ninja society back on Earth, but rather in a whole separate dimension. ’ **Well, whose dumb idea was it to read a giant chunk of the library, huh? I thought I told you to just go through those documents in the ROOT base, but nooo. You never listen to my suggestions.** ’

‘We need information to blend in, just in case we have to stay here long-term. I refuse to be caught off guard by jutsu or some basic knowledge of this world and be hunted down by opportunistic creeps like that Danzō guy. The less we stand out, the better it’ll work out in the long run. Besides, my power is yours and yours is mine, so this should be a cinch. I just need to rely on my instincts.’

‘ **Tch, do as you please. You better hope this works, or I’m going to destroy you in our next sparring session. Remember to envision where you want to go _before_ you open the pathway up, or the Garganta will either dump you back out or swallow you. I don’t know what will happen then**.’

The ruby-haired female swallowed nervously. ‘Right, thanks for that terrifying imagery.’

Taking a deep breath to clear her mind, she delved down into the depths of her reiryoku and felt for the bloodthirsty feel of her hollow half - overbearing in its might, even sealed as it was by the Kidō - bringing out a trickle of power through her arm. She thought of City Z and her tiny apartment, the feel of her living room carpet beneath her toes, the sight of her gray couch and the balcony through the sliding door, and the sounds of birds chirping from their nest outside. Gold-on-black eyes snapped open as Katsumi reached out, her arm moving as of its own accord, tapping on the empty space in front of her.

She could feel it in her bones, the slight ripple in the world as a black space expanded from a single line, rectangular strips pulling back to open the Garganta and a wide grin cut across her face beneath the mask, pulling so wide that her cheeks started to ache. “ **It worked,** ” she breathed in jubilation, reaching a trembling hand towards the void as she stood up excitedly, only to frown as her hand hit an invisible wall.

Resting her hand against the strange barrier, she felt for any openings that she could pass through, but the entrance to the Garganta had been completely blocked off. “ **Kana, what the fuck is going on?** ” Katsumi asked in her double-toned voice, slamming her fist into the barrier to see if she could break it. There was no yield at all, rather, it felt as though the obstruction had just absorbed her blow and let the force travel harmlessly through it. “ **I thought I did it correctly, otherwise it wouldn’t have opened in the first place! It felt right…** ”

‘ **You did open it correctly, I could feel it. No, this is something else entirely,** ’ snarled Kana. ‘ **Something or someone is using their own power to trap us here.** ’

“ **So our arrival here isn’t just a coincidence then,** ” sighed the masked teen, dismissing the Garganta and flopping sadly onto the floor. “ **They probably want us to do something before letting us go back, so I’ll just go with the flow unless I don’t like what they’re doing**.”

‘ **You’re just gonna do them a favor?! You—** ’

“ **Don’t get me wrong, I’m still punching them in the face if I ever see them,** ” drawled Katsumi, “ **If we do what they say, they’ll probably let us go home, but if they want us to destroy the world or something, I’ll annihilate them and then the Garganta will work anyway, so it’s basically killing two birds with one stone. But there’s no use stressing over what can’t be changed. Like you’ve always said, I’ll just have to keep on walking forward and forge my own path.** ”

She dispelled her hollow mask and stood up, stretching languidly as she trudged into the kitchen to grab some food. Freezing as she looked at her reflection in a window she took a calming breath and addressed her inner hollow in a controlled tone. “Kana, is there some reason why the estigma still hasn’t faded? You didn’t mention anything about this.”

‘ **Er, it’s probably due to the use of Descorrer,** ’ the hollow admitted sheepishly as her counterpart thumbed the ruby markings at the outer corners of her eyes in disbelief. ‘ **It’s a higher level technique, so it’s effecting your body more than a cero would, despite not using nearly as much reiryoku. It’ll fade when you use a high-level Shinigami technique like Shunkō though. Hopefully.** ’

“‘Hopefully'?” repeated Katsumi in irritation, staring at the estigma incredulously. “This is the exact opposite of ‘blending in,’ just so you know!”

‘ **It’s fine, just pretend that it’s make-up or something,** ’ dismissed the hollow uncaringly. ‘ **Besides,** **didn’t Team 7 say that they were gonna meet for training or something? You’re gonna be late if you don’t leave now.** ’

“Tch, don’t try to change the subject! And this looks nothing like make-up, you blind idiot! Don’t think that this conversation is over, you hear me?! Where are you going?!”

‘ **Bye~, have fun dealing with that!** ’

“You fuckin—”

* * *

It had been five days since they returned to Konoha after the end of the disastrous mission in Nami no Kuni. Although they had managed to finish the mission successfully, Sasuke knew that he had only survived due to the merciful actions of his opponent and the strange dimensional-traveling newcomer, who had allegedly decimated Gatou’s thugs in the blink of an eye.

 _‘I’m still not strong enough!’_ he thought, clenching his fist in anger as he trudged into the middle of the bridge and leaned on the railing, ignoring Sakura’s greeting as he brooded to himself. _‘Even with my awakened sharingan, I can’t even begin to measure up to Itachi. At this rate, I’ll never be able to kill him!’_

“Hey, guys!” yelled Naruto as he ran over, snapping Sasuke from his dark thoughts and prompting him to glare at the general loudness of the idiots on his team. “I overslept again today, y’know!”

“Don’t give bad excuses!” Sakura berated the blond in the background. “You just remind me of Kakashi-sensei! Hey, you look different today, Naruto.”

“Oh, same with you…”

_‘So noisy!!! These guys are such a pain!’_

“You guys are late.”

The raven-haired boy whirled around in shock, automatically falling into a fighting stance and brandishing a kunai while his teammates scrambled into sloppy defensive guards. _‘How’d she sneak up on me?! I didn’t even notice her approaching!!’_

The ruby-eyed female nodded approvingly at his reaction and raised a fine eyebrow in Naruto and Sakura’s direction, crossing her arms in disapproval. “You guys should be on guard at all times, in the case of a surprise attack,” she lectured, turning away from them as she started to walk off. “Hey, someone point me in the direction of Training Ground 3, because that’s where we’re going today.”

“‘We’?” parroted Sakura as they followed after the cloaked female, pointing the direction to the training grounds. “Are you going to be joining our team training today, Katsumi-san? Just so you know, Kakashi-sensei always shows up at least three hours late, so you’re going to be waiting a while.”

“That’s what I’m counting on!” she said, winking at the group as she tapped the Konoha hitai-ate tied loosely around her neck* that Sasuke hadn’t noticed before.

[*AN: Think, Hidan’s style. As a side note, let’s all thank Jashin-sama and Masashi Kishimoto for all of the eye-candy in the Naruto-verse.]

“Hokage-sama instated me as a jōnin of Konoha and assigned me as an additional sensei to Team 7 so I could train you guys. I have to warn you though, my training is absolutely _nothing_ like Kakashi’s, and you’ll all wish that you were about to die by the end of it, so if you wanna skip out, this is the only chance I’m gonna give you.”

“But it’ll make us strong?” pressed Sasuke, feeling his veins thrum in excitement. If the Hokage had established her as a jōnin so soon after she arrived in this world, then she must’ve been _insanely_ strong. _‘This is it! My path to strength!’_

“If the other genin are on the same level as you, then in one month, you’ll be able to beat most chūnin with no problem,” Katsumi stated, not a trace of doubt in her words. 

Sasuke smirked and agreed immediately. “Hn. Training Ground 3 is this way…Katsumi-sensei.”

“Hey, I won’t lose to Sasuke-teme, y’know!” hollered Naruto. “Bring it on, Katsumi-sensei!”

“Yeah…” said Sakura, a bright blaze of determination burning in her eyes. “I refuse to be left behind! Please teach us, Katsumi-sensei!”

“Heh, those are some nice eyes, you three. Don’t worry, you won’t regret your decision,” declared the ruby-haired female with a wide grin that exposed unnaturally-sharp canines, sending involuntary shivers down the spines of her new students. “That is, if you live through the training.”

* * *

**[FIVE MINUTES LATER]**

“Unlike you guys, who have chakra and chakra pathways, everyone from where I come from only contains a certain amount of reiryoku (Spiritual Power), and a person’s physical and mental strength in battle depends on how much they have,” Katsumi explained to the three genin sitting on the ground in front of her, leaving out the fact that only spiritual beings had a considerable amount of reiryoku.

“Now, this is different from the Yin and Yang energy that makes up chakra and has very different uses, but I assume that users of Yin release are more susceptible to my reiryoku. Anyway, fights with reiryoku are all about willpower and resolve - essentially, without a strong resolve, even an opponent with lower reiryoku levels could easily kill you.”

“Yeah, but what does this have to do with us, Nee-cha— I mean, Katsumi-sensei! Since we only have chakra, then how does any of this stuff matter?” asked Naruto petulantly, pouting as he complained. “I thought you were gonna teach us cool jutsu and fighting styles!”

“Shut up, dobe,” said Sasuke, leaning forward in interest. “She’s not spouting useless garbage, she’s basically telling us how to fight her. If we can win against an opponent on Kakashi’s level, then we can destroy all the other genin.”

“That’s right, since you’re going to be sparring against me so that I can test your capabilities,” she agreed. “But you have to understand, people have different strengths and weaknesses that you must account for by yourself when fighting them. For example, while I do have a defensive technique called Hierro that allows me to make my skin harder than steel, I can only use it when certain conditions are met,” _like when I wear my hollow mask,_ she added mentally, “so I haven’t used it yet.”

“B-But what about on the bridge?” stammered Sakura, wringing her hands nervously. “That guy’s sword didn’t even cut your cloak!”

“What?” Sasuke asked in confusion, turning to his pink-haired teammate. “When did this happen?”

“When you were still unconscious, teme! The bandit couldn’t even scratch the fabric, hehe!” chortled the whiskered blond. “His face was so funny! And then Katsumi-sensei exploded his head in one hit!”

“…what.” The Uchiha’s voice came out flat and disbelieving. “That sounds like bullshit.”

“Sasuke-kun, it really happened!”

“Can you brats shut up so I can explain?” asked Katsumi, the violent undertones in her voice prompting the genin to be quiet. “As I was saying, while reiryoku is the amount of spiritual power a person contains, reiatsu is the pressure that is exerted by an individual’s reiryoku. I infused my cloak with some reiatsu, as it can be used both defensively and offensively, and can deal physical as well as psychological attacks. In this, it is similar to the Killing Intent that you guys have, but I personally find reiatsu more effective. You can also increase and decrease the output to alert others to your location, or in order to conceal your presence.

“Since reiatsu is connected to the soul, it usually reacts unconsciously in battle to the individual’s thoughts and resolve. So basically, when that guy attacked me, he was full of fear and doubt, so he couldn’t pierce through my reiatsu, because his sword was being dulled by his fear. If you have a weak resolve, you can’t do anything. You guys can’t actively use your reiatsu like I can - I’m guessing that it’s because of the existence of chakra, but I don’t know for sure - but anyone with a strong enough resolve could definitely cut me. It’s simply a matter of honing your Intent into a weapon or your body when you attack.”

Naruto scratched his head in confusion and smacked the ground with a clenched fist. “I don’t really get it, but we just have to want to cut you, right?”

“It’s more than that, but I get the feeling you learn better through action. So, attack me with the intent to kill!” proclaimed the ruby-haired female as she stood up, brushing dust from her cloak. “I expect you all to at least do some damage to my cloak in the next three hours before Kakashi gets here,” she said, fully aware that the man in question was observing their training session from a tree a few meters away, watching as the genin fell into fighting stances.

“You may have asked me to train you, but don’t think that I am obligated to. If you can’t even cut me, then I won’t even bother with you. But Kakashi and I made a bet with the Hokage that you would all have enough skills to promote in the Chūnin Exams next month, so I fully expect you to pass this little test of mine.”

She lashed out in a roundhouse kick that they dodged and swept the returning volley of shuriken away with a negligent hand. Sighing in disappointment at their simple tactics, she stopped Sasuke’s furious charge by grabbing the kunai by blade, watching the horror spread on Sasuke’s face as he realized the sharp metal had no effect on her. “How reckless. Didn’t I just say that you couldn’t cut me with such a weak resolve?”

Catching the leg that Naruto tried to kick her head with, she threw him onto the ground and swayed out of the way of Sakura’s lunge from behind, sending her sprawling onto her blond teammate. She still hadn’t taken a step from her original position. “Oh, and one thing you got wrong before. As of right now in Konoha, the only person even close to my level is the Hokage. If we fought, he’d probably manage to deal some lasting damage before I reduced him to a smear on the ground.”

And then she released her reiatsu.

* * *

 _‘What the hell?!’_ thought Sasuke from where he lay gasping facedown on the floor. _‘This pressure…I can’t even breathe! How do I fight against a monster like this?!’_ He managed to lift his head slightly off the ground, and was not reassured by the sight of his teammates in the same position that he was. He collapsed back on the dirt. _‘Someone this strong…is definitely not human! It feels like I’m being ripped apart! I can’t fight against someone who can kill the Hokage!’_

“Are you giving up already?” Black boots stepped into his range of vision and his arm only managed to twitch when he tried to move it. “Even with that Uchiha bloodline, someone with a resolve as weak as yours is worthless. Look,” she said, kneeling down and lifting up his head with a firm grip on the base of his chin, turning his head so that he could see Naruto and Sakura clambering to their feet, moving painfully slowly, but moving all the same.

_‘What?! How are they even moving under this pressure? I can’t even move a single finger!’_

“They have something they are willing to fight for,” smirked Katsumi, answering the question written all over his face. “When we were coming back to Konoha, I pulled them aside and asked them why they wanted to be shinobi, as well as their reasons for fighting. And I told them to quit if they couldn’t even think of a good reason why they should put their lives on the line on a daily basis. It took a while, but they both said that they wanted to protect people dear to them. For Sakura, it was her parents and her teammates, and Naruto wanted to protect everyone in his life, even those idiots in the village that treat him like crap.”

“W-Why them?” he choked out, not voicing the question he really wanted to ask. _‘Why not me?’_

“You were a little harder to figure out,” she said, seeing through his thin façade in an instant. “I asked Kakashi, and he told me about you wanting to get stronger in order to kill your brother. You’ll never manage it if you continue on this path. Every single one of your actions _reeks_ of fear. It’s pathetic.”

“?!!”

She pulled his face up and Sasuke tried not to flinch away at the sight of those merciless eyes, the strange ruby markings on her face making them appear more feral. “When you dodged my kick, it was because you were afraid of being hit. When you attacked me, you were afraid of killing me. You say that you want to be stronger, but it’s because you’re afraid of dying. And when you say that you want to kill your brother, it’s because you’re afraid of him killing the people you love. Sasuke, you’re scared of killing Itachi, because even after everything he’s done to you, you still love him.”

“L-Like hell!” Sasuke managed to spit out, trying to struggle out of her iron grip, to no avail. “That man, he’s not t-the same Itachi from my childhood. He told me- he said I need the same eyes as him if I want to kill him to avenge my family!”

“Why are you still listening to him?!” she cried out, digging her fingernails into his cheeks so he couldn’t look away from her eyes. Her words came out as a furious whisper, but he couldn’t ignore the truth in them. “Don’t you even think for yourself?! Has the sharingan made you blind?! I’ve only been here for a few days, but I’ve managed to uncover so many dark truths about Konoha already. Don’t some things seem _off_ about the Massacre? Why _did_ Itachi let you live that day? Why were the ANBU so late? Was Itachi acting alone, or did he have assistance? Was it something he decided of his own volition, or was he coerced? He was a loyal Konoha shinobi; did some assign it to him as a mission? _Who would dare to give the orders?_ ”

“W-What?” His head was reeling. All those questions sounded like the ones he asked himself before he realized that no one was going to answer, burying them deeper and deeper within his heart until he could pretend that they didn’t exist. “Then why—all those people…he killed our entire family! How could he?! And then he ran away and left me! _He left me!_ ”

“Oh, Sasuke,” sighed Katsumi, tiredly scrubbing her free hand over her face. “I don’t have any answers, just useless theories that I built up from stolen mission reports. If you want to know the whole truth, then find your brother and make him tell you.”

She looked at him seriously from where she knelt above him. “You have to understand though, in the eyes of the Village Elders, the sharingan is a precious resource that once made Konoha indisputably the strongest Hidden Village. They will _never_ let you walk out of those gates if you give any indication that you’re trying to hunt down an S-rank missing-nin and drag him back to Konoha with you. Regardless of what you decide to do, keep your secrets close to your chest, because even the shadows have ears in Konoha.

“I know you’re not stupid, you know that strength is the only thing that matters in this dog-eat-dog world, but right now, your fear is crippling you. Know this, Uchiha Sasuke; as you are now, you cannot protect the things you love in life with your own two hands, especially with such a weak resolve. Are you willing to let your precious people die, simply because you are too weak to protect them? _Will you condemn yourself to that lonely hell again?_ ” 

She loosened her grip so that he could pull away and sit up, looking over at his teammates standing side by side and did a double-take, actually _seeing_ them for the first time since they had returned from Nami no Kuni.

“…Sasuke-kun,” said Sakura, standing up tall and proud under the reiatsu, wearing trousers and a t-shirt instead of her usual red dress, her light pink hair braided neatly on her scalp so that it was out of the way, and her hitai-ate placed firmly on her forehead. “I refuse to be weak anymore. I don’t want to just see your backs when I look in your direction! From now on, let’s lean on each other!”

“Yeah, what Sakura-chan said! We’ll help you to beat the truth out of your brother!” grinned Naruto, wearing a black jumpsuit with orange highlights instead of that orange monstrosity, offering a tanned hand out to him. He looked more serious - stood straighter - than his previous self, managing to look like an actual shinobi despite the foxy smile on his face. “You can count on us, y’know!”

 _‘Have they really changed so much since the Wave mission? I didn’t even notice,’_ thought the Uchiha as he grabbed Naruto’s hand and pulled himself to his feet. _‘I see…I really have been blind. What an idiot. Everything I’ve ever wanted has already been within my reach this whole time. I just have to try harder to take it!’_

“Thanks, Sakura, Naruto.” His pride wouldn’t allow him to apologize for being a terrible teammate, but…”Once I catch up to your level then we can fulfill our dreams together.”

“What are you talking about, Sasuke-kun?”

“Heh, the teme hasn’t even realized it yet,” snickered Naruto, punching him lightly on the shoulder. “You’re already standing, aren’t you?”

He looked down at his standing form incredulously and flexed his hands, feeling less of the stifling pressure. “Oh…I can move now. I didn’t even notice.”

“Now that all of you can stand up, how about we see if your resolve is finally strong enough?” the cloaked female asked, unleashing a punch that cratered the ground and prompted them to jump away, weapons in hand. “In battle, leave no room for doubt or fear in your heart. It’s completely useless! When you dodge, think: ‘I won’t let that hit me.’ If you protect someone: ‘I won’t let them die!’ And when you attack, think: ‘I will kill them!’”

Sasuke flipped through the hand seals for [Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu], building up the necessary chakra in his body before expelling a giant orb of fire that swallowed the cloaked female, watching as Sakura launched a barrage of shuriken where they last saw Katsumi’s face and Naruto simultaneously threw a handful of kunai to the center of the flaming figure, one of which had an explosive tag attached to the handle. As it went off, the fire and smoke cleared and the dark-haired boy found himself smirking at the faint singe marks that covered his sensei’s entire figure. Upon closer inspection, there was also a faint line of red on a cheekbone - presumably from Sakura’s attack - and the hand clutching the blackened remains of the exploded kunai was bleeding sluggishly, dripping blood onto the floor.

“All three of you?” she mused, dropping the charred chunk of metal onto the ground. “Ha, that’s great! I knew you guys had potential. Consider yourselves officially my students. But…”

Sasuke’s smirk dropped completely as she lifted up her hand, displaying the rapidly healing injuries, bloody scratches rapidly sealing up before their eyes until her skin was unblemished under the faint traces of blood and dirt. _‘What?! An accelerated healing factor? Shit!!’_

Her lips lifted in a too-wide smile as she wiped her hand onto her cloak to remove the blood and took a step forward, making the Uchiha activate his sharingan on reflex and hastily palm a kunai. “You’re all gonna have to try harder if you want to survive before Kakashi gets here.”

* * *

**[OVER TWO HOURS LATER]**

Katsumi hummed in satisfaction as she corrected another flaw in Naruto’s stance and blocked his hit, snagging the back of his jumpsuit as he finally started to collapse. Besides when she had let them hit her in order to test their resolve, they hadn’t managed to land even a single hit since, but there were a few close-calls (not that she was even trying particularly hard) which was impressive for a bunch of brats.

Setting Naruto's barely-conscious form beside his two teammates on the ground, she knelt by their heads and snapped her fingers a couple times in order to bring them back into awareness. “Hm, not too bad, kiddos. You didn’t quite make it to the three hour mark, but I guess we can stop for now, since I have all the information I need. Hey, Kakashi, how was the trip?”

His lanky frame appeared from a swirl of leaves and he shot her irritated glare from behind his Icha-Icha as she chuckled lowly. “You knew I was here the whole time, didn’t you?”

“Haha, my favorite part was when you fell out of the tree,” she teased, walking over to brush a stray twig from his silver hair. “I’d recognize your reiatsu signature anywhere. Reminds me of, hmm…the thrilling feeling that races down your spine before lightning strikes. Also, you smell like dogs.”

“Can you sense the reiatsu of everyone you meet? How far is your sensing range?”

“I have to be familiar with it, or else I won’t recognize who it is. Think of it as a kind of radar. If I expand my reiatsu, I can push it against other reiatsu in my vicinity, telling me where and how strong they are. If I really concentrate, I can recognize fluctuations to sense their general state, like if they’re angry or injured. However, since my reiatsu is fairly large, I won’t sense any civilians unless I’m actively looking for them, because their reiatsu is too weak. As for range…everything within Konoha’s walls are fair game.”

“That’s…extensive. Look there,” he said, nodding his head to gesture behind her. Turning, Katsumi smirked triumphantly when she saw the three genin sitting beside each other and just _talking_. No screaming about crushes, revenge or rivalries, just acting like normal kids, albeit ones who were being trained by society to be killing machines. The less she thought about that, the better.

“…Thank you for speaking to Sasuke,” Kakashi said lowly, not moving his eyes away from his team. “I just—I didn’t know how to change his view on the whole Itachi thing, but I also didn’t want to make the situation worse either. You’re a much better teacher than I am.”

The ruby haired female pushed his orange book out of the way so that she could look at him properly, ignoring his pout at how she treated his Icha-Icha. “You’re a great teacher, Kakashi, but this team was just set up for failure. So many conflicting personalities - I don’t even want to know what the Hokage was thinking. Sometimes, you just gotta knock some sense into people, especially when they’re as stubborn as these idiots. It’s like Sensei always said, ‘If people refuse to listen to your voice, then make them feel your message through your actions.’”

A wry grin showed through the skintight fabric of his mask. “Did she train you until you almost passed out multiple times as well?”

“Heh, no way. I came out of every training session unconscious and with at least half of my bones broken. I’m going _easy_ on these brats.”

“How—oh, the accelerated healing. Why would you push yourself that hard?”

“Revenge, obviously. I was a very angry preteen. I feel kinda bad for my sensei, making her put up with my crap for so long. She finally managed to whack some sense into me though!” Winking at the masked jōnin, she laced her fingers with his and dragged him to where the kids were sitting on the ground, covered in bruises, dirt, and a little blood, but smiling all the same. “Good work, shrimps. Now that we’ve sparred a little, I know what areas you’ll do best in, so let’s get planning for the Chūnin Exams. Remember that promotion isn’t everything, but competing in sanctioned matches is much safer than trying to take on A-rank missing-nin. Any questions before we start?”

“Is it true that you could beat the old man?” asked Naruto, peering up at her with bright blue eyes. She sighed mentally as Kakashi stiffened up next to her, tightening his hold slightly. “The Hokage is supposed to be the strongest in the village.”

“Listen brats, while the Hokage _is_ the strongest shinobi in Konoha, he’s also an old geezer who probably gets back pains all the time,” explained Katsumi. “In a battle of stamina, I would definitely outlast him, plus, no one said I had to fight fair. I could easily take someone hostage and then kill him while he’s distracted. Power isn’t everything.”

“What if it was a one-on-one battle?” questioned Sasuke, eyes gleaming. “You against him, who would win?”

“…If he forced me to go all out, I’d kill him, no contest. I’d also wipe Konoha completely off the map in the process,” she admitted, ignoring the horrified gasps from the genin and the slight hitch in Kakashi’s breathing, the involuntary twitch of his fingers against hers. “When I use all of my power, I have no awareness at all, which is why I seal the majority of it away. I mean, I’ve been working on it, but last time—”

Katsumi cut herself off and shook her head, not wanting to remember waking up surrounded by countless bodies and covered in so much blood that she wished she had drowned in it. That was all that invaded her dreams since that day; an endless sea of blood that could never be washed away, and the thick crimson liquid filling her lungs until she woke up choking on the taste of it.

A harsh squeeze of her hand brought her back to reality and she coughed, fixing the genin with a stern glare. “All I’m saying is that too much power is never a good thing. I was dumb and arrogant, and I single-handedly caused the deaths of thousands- hell, maybe even tens of thousands of people. That is a sin that I will _never_ atone for, even if I live a hundred lifetimes for every life I took. You need to realize that every action has consequences, and that you can’t just sweep them under the rug.” 

“…bi…me,” muttered Naruto, biting his lips nervously.

“What? Speak up, Naruto, it’s not like you to be so quiet,” teased Sakura, trying to break the sombre atmosphere.

“IhavetheKyūbisealedwithinme,” blurted Naruto in a rush of panicked words that barely anyone could understand, burying his face in his hands.

“Wait, Naruto,” Kakashi cut in, looking at Naruto seriously. “Are you sure you want to tell them this? You personally aren’t restricted by the S-rank secret, but once you say it, you can’t take it back.”

“No, I’m sure,” stated the whiskered boy resolutely, lifting his head to fix blue eyes on gray. “If I can’t even trust them with this, then how can I trust them with my life?”

“Hm, well said.”

“I-I…I have the Kyūbi sealed in me!” Naruto forced out, squeezing his eyes shut as he prepared for their rejection, their hatred. “I know it sounds stupid, but i-it’s not— I’m not lying, it really is sealed in my body. I only found out about it on the night after the Graduation Exams.”

There was a moment of silence, and then:

Katsumi looked bored. “So it was the Kyūbi I was sensing, huh? Cool.”

Sakura bit her lips. “Naruto, it really doesn’t change anything, right?”

“Hn.” A disinterested turn away clearly stated Sasuke’s opinions on the matter.

“W-What?” he stammered, looking shocked at their easy acceptance. “Don’t you guys hate me? Y-You don’t think I’m the Kyūbi?”

“You’re still you, Naruto,” said Sakura, giving him an encouraging smile before it turned teasing and a mischievous light entered her eyes. “Besides, the Kyūbi definitely wouldn’t paint Hokage Mountain, or fail so many tests in the Academy.”

“Hey!”

“Hn.”

“Don’t ‘hn’ me, Sasuke-teme!” His blue eyes watered dangerously at their calm acknowledgement, and he pulled them both into an exuberant hug. “ _Thank you._ ”

“Hm, like any of us would look down on you just because you have a giant mass of sentient chakra sealed in you. How insulting,” scoffed Katsumi, kneeling down next to the huddled genin and smirking at Sasuke’s uncomfortable shifting when he realized that he was pressed close to his pink-haired teammate. “C’mere, you guys are still injured.”

Hovering her palm over the bleeding cut on Sakura’s forearm, she bit her lip in concentration as she channelled her reiryoku to her hand and converted it into healing Kidō, grinning in satisfaction as a pale green glow coated her palm and fingers as the Kaidō bloomed to life and gradually healed the damage. After all the damage had been fixed (without even leaving a scar behind! She was finally improving!), Katsumi sat back on her heels and patted the starstruck Sakura on the head, looking the trio over for more injuries. “Good thing I’ve been practicing,” she sighed in relief, flexing her lightly glowing fingers before hovering them over a large scrape on Sasuke’s face. “I’ve always been terrible at this.”

“Is that…iryō-jutsu?” asked an impressed Kakashi from behind her. “Looks like you’re decent at it to me.”

“No, not at all,” she denied, even as she fixed Naruto’s sprained wrist. “This is Kidō, which can be used in battle for direct attacks as well as support, such as making barriers or passing on messages. The healing version, Kaidō, is what I’m using right now, but despite trying this for over six years, I can’t heal much more than cuts and scrapes with it for some reason. However, I am thankfully _much_ better at using offensive Kidō.”

“You can heal people?” breathed Sakura, green eyes shimmering. “I wonder if I can learn that too?”

“There’s always iryō-jutsu, if you want to learn,” offered Kakashi. “I was thinking that it would suit your style, especially with your amazing chakra control.”

“Oh,” said the girl in barely concealed disappointment, shuffling awkwardly on the ground. “I thought that I would be learning to fight—”

“That’s not what Kakashi meant, dummy.” Lightly flicking Sakura on the nose, Katsumi dismissed the Kaidō once she ascertained that there were no more injuries and ran her hands through her hair. “Of course you’re learning to fight. Large, flashy ninjutsu just doesn’t match your fighting style at all.From our little spar, I believe that you would do well if you specialized in taijutsu. With how good your chakra control is and how good you are at paying attention to detail, you could also specialize in genjutsu and iryō-jutsu, but obviously have a fair share of ninjutsu as well. Specializing in just one area is stupid as hell, but I wouldn’t recommend fighting any field medics if I could help it. Medics are _terrifying_ to face in battle, you know.”

Kakashi nodded in agreement. “Katsumi’s right, Sakura. Knowing how to heal people with a single touch also means knowing exactly how to hurt people. If you can sever their arteries with chakra scalpels before they can finish their hand seals, it won’t exactly matter how big their chakra reverses are, or how many ninjutsu they know. Plus, haven’t you heard of Tsunade of the Sannin? You’re the female Rookie of the Year; I bet that you could manage to figure out her super-strength technique if you tried hard enough.”

“Ugh, female medics,” shivered the ruby-haired female, thinking about when Yoruichi had told her about the previous 4th Division captain. “Sensei told me about someone she knew, Unohana Yachiru, who was the best healer in the whole Seireitei. She used to be a violent and bloodthirsty criminal, a remorseless murderer that travelled around challenging strong warriors to satiate her thirst for battle. Apparently, she loved battle so much that she learned Kaidō from someone willing to teach her and perfected it to such a high standard that she could heal both herself and her opponent mid-battle, so that their fights could last for days until she eventually killed them.”

“She sounds amazing,” cheered Sakura. “I’ll make it my goal to surpass her someday!”

Everyone else shuddered in unison and scooted away from her nervously.

“What’s the Seireitei like, Nee-chan?” asked Naruto in hopes of changing the subject, even as he eyed Sakura as though she was about to go crazy and attack everyone. “I wanna learn more about—” He looked around suspiciously, leaned closer and whispered, “— _your alternate dimension._ ”

Sweatdrops appeared on the rest of Team 7’s faces from how obvious he was being. There was no subtlety in him _at all_.

“Ah, I don’t actually know, seeing as how I’ve never been there before. Sensei and I came from very different places,” she admitted, omitting the fact that Yoruichi-sensei was a dimension-hopping Shinigami, as well as a demonic cat-woman with a penchant for stripping at random times. “I wished I could’ve gone there with her when she returned, but I had to fulfill my own dreams. Did you know, their military has thirteen divisions, each one lead by a captain. _And every captain is above Kage-level._ ”

“Huh?!” came the resounding cry.

“Thirteen Kage-Level opponents in one organization is an overkill!” fretted Sakura. “What kind of threats did they need to combat, jeez…”

“Hn.”

“Yeah,” sighed Katsumi wistfully. “I really wanted to fight all of them…”

“No offense, Nee-chan, but you’re a little crazy.”

“None taken.”

“Who was the strongest person you’ve ever fought?” asked Kakashi, finally sitting down on the ground with the rest of the team. “Or seen in action.”

“Oh, Sensei's the strongest person I’ve ever fought, without a doubt. Even after all this time and training, she’d definitely win if she took me seriously. But if you’re talking about unrivaled strength, I would say my co-workers, Saitama…and Tatsumaki,” Katsumi said, lips pursing unhappily at the second name.

“Tatsumaki, that little green-haired brat, is what we called an esper back home. It basically means that she has psychic powers,” she grumbled. “I probably wouldn’t beat her in a straight up fight, because she’d just launch me into space before I could even do something, and that would most likely kill me. What a bitch.”

“Woah, psychic powers?” squealed the blond, sparkles appearing in his eyes. “Like moving stuff with her mind? That’s so freakin’ cool!”

“Yeah, I heard from the Association that once she even pulled a meteoroid from deep orbit to destroy her opponent just because they called her short and weak,” divulged the ruby-haired teen to the disbelief of her audience. She took in their incredulous faces and snorted in amusement. “I know it sounds unbelievable, but I’m really not lying. She may be a short-tempered midget, but she was known as the Strongest Esper in my world for a reason. And Saitama…his limitless strength was actually kinda terrifying to watch. He shattered a meteor in one punch and even easily took down an enormous alien spaceship and killed their leader.”

“Aliens?” questioned Sakura skeptically. “Are you sure you weren’t drunk, Sensei?”

“Uh, I can’t actually get drunk, so yes, I am sure. Do you guys not have aliens here? I couldn’t find anything about that in the library.”

“…I can guarantee that we don’t have alien invasions,” Kakashi drawled in a dry tone. “Your world sounds…complicated.”

“Oh, it was all kinds of messed up,” she admitted freely. “I bet you 1,000 Ryo that yours is worse though.”

“Done,” he agreed immediately before turning to the spectating genin. “Anyway, before we got sidetracked, I was going to say that Sasuke should learn kenjutsu and focus more on speed and technique over strength. I used to use a tantō when I was younger, so I can teach you the basics, but you’ll have to find someone else to teach you techniques since I don’t have any. I’ve also got a large amount of jutsu in my arsenal that I can teach to all of you, but we should test for chakra affinities first to make it easier. I don’t have any chakra paper today, so we can do it tomorrow.”

“I’ll teach Sasuke to use swords. Since I’m ambidextrous and I’ve been trained in wielding virtually any bladed weapon, I’m more suited to training him,” Katsumi bartered. “I can also teach them all Hakuda, which is basically high-speed taijutsu. I’ll just switch out shunpō for the shunshin, because the usage is virtually the same, even if the Shunshin is more limited.

“We have to get someone for Sakura to learn iryō-jutsu from, but you can teach her genjutsu, right? And since Naruto has the largest chakra reserves, he’d do amazing as a ninjutsu specialist, so you should work with him most. Plus, I heard the you were a student of the Yondaime, so you must have picked up at least _some_ fūinjutsu that you can teach to him. Apparently Uzumaki are supposed to be amazing at that, and with Naruto’s skill in pranking, he would make an excellent trap specialist. This team is going to be so stacked—”

“Hey, what do you mean by ‘Uzumaki’?” interrupted Sasuke. “And there’s no way Kakashi was a student of _the_ _Yondaime_.”

“That’s ‘Kakashi-sensei’ to you, brat. And you don’t even know about Naruto’s clan?” asked an irritated Katsumi. “What did they even teach you in that Academy of yours? Arranging flowers?”

“…it was in Kunoichi classes…”

“I was being sarcastic—”

“What do you mean by ‘Naruto’s clan’? No one’s ever told me about being part of a clan!” yelled the whiskered boy, looking on the verge of tears. “I don’t even know my parents’ names!”

“…I read about it in the library. It said that members of the Uzumaki clan typically had red hair and huge chakra reserves, so I just assumed that one of your parents had blond hair,” said the ruby-haired woman haltingly, frowning in his direction. “Are you telling me you haven’t ever heard of Uzumaki Mito, the first jinchūriki of the Kyūbi? She was your Shodaime Hokage’s wife. Why hasn’t the Hokage told you about this? Considering the fact that Uzushiogakure no Sato was destroyed long ago, you’re certainly one of the last remaining people in the Elemental Nations with an Uzumaki bloodline.”

“I’ve never—the old man just said that my parents were great shinobi who died in the Kyūbi attack,” sniffled Naruto. “He always said it was too dangerous for me to know more.”

“Well, that’s fucking stupid,” declared Katsumi, ruffling his spiky hair and pulling him into a tight hug. “Since you’re a genin now, you’re definitely old enough to know. I can go ask him with you if you want.”

“I’ll talk to the Hokage with him. This is…personal to me as well,” said Kakashi. “You should probably let go of him now.”

“Eh?” Looking down, she realized that she was suffocating the blond boy between her breasts and quickly released him, watching sheepishly as he collapsed to the ground gasping for air. “My bad.”

“What if the Hokage decides not to tell Naruto about his parents?” scowled Sakura. “It’s not like we can just go snooping into his office or something.”

“Hn.”

“Well, since Uzumaki are so uncommon and well-suited to being jinchūriki, I’m willing to bet that the previous jinchūriki of the Kyūbi was one of his parents,” reasoned Katsumi. “And since I haven’t even found one mention of their identity despite searching through the whole library, why not just go to the source? I’m sure the Kyūbi knows the name of his previous jailer.”

“You want the dobe to ask the demon fox what his parents names were.” It wasn’t phrased as a question, but somehow Sasuke still managed to convey, _‘Are you crazy?’_ and _‘What an idiot.’_ with a flat tone. Such skill!

“Yes, it’s obviously the logical choice here,” rationalized the ruby-haired woman. “The Hokage can’t stop Naruto from asking the Kyūbi anything. Also~, I’ve read a whole bunch of books about the Tailed Beasts, but not one of them mention the Kyūbi’s name and gender, so I _really_ want Naruto to ask. Please tell me afterwards!” she requested her blond student.

“You’re actually a huge nerd, aren’t you?” teased Kakashi.

“Hmph, it’s called being polite!” she snarked back, not denying or agreeing with his question. “We’ll work on some kind of mediation so that you guys can talk to each other. And don’t be rude when speaking to the Kyūbi, you aren’t owed anything, despite what you might think.”

“But—!”

“No, Naruto. The Kyūbi didn’t ask to be sealed in you, and even though you’ve suffered because of the hatred of others, it isn’t an excuse to project it on someone else.”

“He destroyed Konoha!”

“So?” scoffed Katsumi. “If that had been me sealed away for over half a century, I would’ve done a lot worse if I escaped. And if you ask me, it’s the fault of Senju Hashirama for sealing all the Tailed Beasts away in the first place.” She cracked her knuckles absentmindedly. “Deciding to imprison beings just because they were ‘too powerful’ and giving them to other Hidden Villages as if they were property…tch, that kind of stuff pisses me off. If I ever meet Senju Hashirama’s ghost, I’m going to beat some sense into the idiot!”

“The Kyūbi killed my parents! Am I supposed to just forgive that?!”

“No, but you don’t know the whole story either. I read that Uchiha Madara’s sharingan could cast a genjutsu that could control the Kyūbi, so maybe someone with an extremely strong dōjutsu used the Kyūbi to destabilize Konoha and kill the Yondaime or something. Like I said to Sasuke, get yours facts straight before running around like an idiot.” She stood up and patted the dust from her clothing, nodding approvingly as Naruto visibly calmed down and appeared to think about his situation. “Now, where do you guys want to go for lunch?”

“Hn, do we have to eat together?” asked Sasuke unenthusiastically. “I don’t want to eat ramen.”

“Don’t insult Ichiraku’s, teme! Ramen is the food of the gods!”

“Tch, this is why you’re so short, dobe.”

“Why you—”

“Why don’t we go to Yakiniku Q?” Sakura suggested, sharp green eyes promising violence if either of the boys started arguing again. “It’ll be great for team building!”

“Oh yeah, team building. I was just thinking that you guys would need the energy for all the stuff we’re going to do today.”

“…I thought we were finished for today?” asked Naruto, sweating nervously as she gave them all a bright grin.

“Not even close! We still have to go shopping after lunch for Sasuke’s sword, weights for all three of you, and some actual nutritious food for Naruto. Then we’ll do a few D-ranks so you guys can earn some money, but I guess it’s fine if we cheat with Naruto’s Kage Bunshin. And after that, we’ll start on chakra training! Plus, Naruto has to go to see the Hokage at the end of the day, and I have to talk to Sakura’s parents about her training schedule, since we’re going to be doing this everyday until the Chūnin Exams. Probably afterwards too, I guess it’s just a matter of how fast you want to get stronger.”

“Every single day?” questioned Sakura, a feeling of dread washing over her.

“ _Every single day_ ,” Katsumi confirmed, smiling sadistically at their paling faces. “Now, why don’t you lead the way to Yakiniku Q? If any of you guys are slower than me, I’ll grab the Tora mission I heard some other genin complaining about.”

Laughing as they vanished in a rush of speed, she followed after their reiatsu signatures at a regular walking pace and linked her arm with Kakashi’s so that he wouldn’t skip out on lunch. Despite his less-than-social nature, his body language didn’t seem opposed to the casual contact and he allowed himself to be pulled along with her, all while reading that orange book of his. “I’ve been wondering for a while now, just what _is_ that book about? The librarian just told me it was super scandalous, but I assumed they were lying. It’s a romance novel, right?”

“…”

“Oh, so it’s _that_ kind of romance novel? Haha, that’s amazing!”

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” started the silver-haired man, shamelessly changing topics in the most obvious way that Katsumi had ever heard, “What are those markings at your eyes? First I thought it was make-up, but now that we’re closer I can see that they’re actually part of your skin. Are they like the Inuzuka Clan markings?”

A cloud of gloom appeared over Katsumi's head and she groaned, her good mood vanishing in an instant. “Ugh, _please_ don’t comment.”

* * *

**[AT YAKINIKU Q]**

“Shikamaru!” hissed Ino, shaking his shoulder aggressively and smacking the back of his head, prompting him to raise it from where it rested on the table. He glared blearily at her and she returned his look just as fiercely before gesturing her head at something in the background. “Look behind you! Tell me I’m hallucinating or that they’re imposters or something!”

Glancing backwards, the spiky-haired genius found himself completely caught off guard at what he was looking at. Sitting at the other end of the barbeque restaurant was Team 7, except they looked nothing like the dysfunctional team that they had appeared to be after the Graduation Exam. They were too far away to hear conversation, but he could see that Naruto was chattering excitedly to everyone, and Sakura smirked playfully at him before stealing food off his plate _and the Uchiha started chuckling._ He was actually smiling, and not being a moody emo for once, and Shikamaru was _so confused_.

There was an attractive female that he had never seen before sitting with them - because he’d definitely recognize someone with such a memorable face and hair color - and she was gesturing at the masked jōnin-sensei’s face with her chopsticks before nudging Naruto with her elbow playfully, prompting the silver-haired man to laugh and make a giant pile of food vanish off his plate in the blink of an eye, without exposing his face even once.

“Is that Kakashi?” asked Asuma-sensei, blatantly staring at the other jōnin even as Naruto hurled a piece of food at the masked man that Sasuke swiped out of the air and threw back. “I don’t remember seeing him actually laugh since…I have no idea. And that cloaked lady seems kinda familiar somehow…”

“Sakura has her hitai-ate on properly,” said Shikamaru’s blonde teammate in a strangled voice. As the dumbfounded Team 10 watched, the pink-haired girl pointed at the two other boys accusingly and thumped them both on the head, seemingly infuriated at their mistreatment of the food. “Sakura just _hit Sasuke-kun on the head. What the hell is going on?_ ”

“Well, he was going to waste food,” inputted Chōji, munching on a piece of barbeque as he nodded approvingly.

“That’s not the point—!”

Sharp ruby eyes cut across the restaurant and bored into his own, holding his gaze for a single moment that seemed to last for an eternity, and _Shikamaru could barely breathe._ It was like there was a strange pressure choking the air out of his lungs, but he was sure that it was only affecting him, if the lack of reaction from his team was anything to go by.

‘ _Dangerous,_ ’ his mind whispered insidiously, rapid-fire thoughts racing as he catalogued everything about the interaction as he could. ‘ _Strong. She_ d _ismissed all of us as threats after a single glance. Looked more wary of me than Asuma-sensei, so she knows that I’m either a Nara or that I’m smarter than I look. She’s got something to hide, so maybe she’s a spy—no, that’s Kakashi of the Sharingan right there, and he wouldn’t be fooled so easily. Also, she’s a Konoha shinobi, one dangerous enough to be a jōnin, but one that Sensei’s never seen before…then she’s ANBU? Why is an ANBU operative hanging around Team 7 for? What—‘_

He let out a shuddering breath as the moment ended when she broke eye-contact by winking at him, offering a razor-edged smirk before turning back to her conversation with the masked jōnin, all traces of deadly focus gone like it was never there to begin with. The pressure was gone as well, but he couldn’t tell if it was real or imagined in the first place, which was extremely disconcerting. ‘ _If it was a genjutsu, then it was a very good one. It felt so real—_ ’

“—maru. Hey, Shikamaru! Are you okay?”

Snapping back to attention, he took in Asuma-sensei’s worried expression and waved it off, finding his eyes drawing back to the conundrum that was Team 7 and their new addition. “How troublesome.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used Kisuke’s quotes from Bleach, mainly because I thought that they were so amazing. When I read it the first time, I like, died from coolness-overload.
> 
> Okay, so for those people who will say that Sasuke is too OOC, let me remind you that he only became a complete asshole after he gave into the Curse Seal (when before, he was only mostly an asshole). No flaming please, but I really hate his arrogant and power-hungry attitude and how he didn’t care for Team 7 at all, even though Naruto fought so hard to get him back. So I am fixing his shitty personality, you’re welcome! PTSD or no, no-one insults our favorite blond shinobi!
> 
> Stay tuned for more updates, and don't forget to leave a comment!


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